SeaWorld also plans to replace its theatrical shows with "natural orca encounters,'' starting in San Diego next year, then in San Antonio and Orlando in 2019. The orcas will continue to receive the highest-quality care, SeaWorld executives said.

According to SeaWorld, it has not only discontinued breeding orcas through artificial insemination; it also feeds the whales birth control medication.

Orcas have been a centerpiece of the SeaWorld parks since shows at the Shamu stadium in San Diego became the main draw in the 1970s. But criticism has steadily increased in the decades since and then became sharper after an orca named Tilikum battered and drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau after a "Dine with Shamu" show in Orlando in 2010.